The present invention relates to a sheet finisher having functions to conduct finishing actions such as stapling and folding for a combination of recording sheets ejected out of an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine, a printer and a facsimile machine and a cover sheet (a cover).
As an apparatus to collate a plurality of recording sheets each having thereon a recorded image ejected out of an image forming apparatus and to staple them with a stapler for each number of copies, a sheet finisher called a finisher is used.
The finisher is connected to an image forming apparatus main body such as a copying machine or a printer in terms of functions, and is driven to operate, interlocking with a sequence of operations of copying or printing process.
Therefore, the image forming apparatus capable of conducting image forming process at high speed requires a finisher capable of conducting high speed processing which can fulfill its functions, conforming to the processing speed of the image forming apparatus.
Finishers like that explained above are already disclosed in Japanese TOKKAISHO Nos. 60-142359, 60-158463, 62-239169, 62-288002, 63-267667, Japanese TOKKAIHEI Nos. 2-276691, 8-319054, and Japanese TOKKOHEI No. 5-41991.
A bookbinding apparatus disclosed in Japanese TOKKAISHO No. 60-183459 is one wherein a cover supplying device is provided, and bookbinding finishing work such as punching or stapling is carried out after copy sheets and a cover are superposed.
Disclosed in Japanese TOKKAIHEI Nos. 6-72064, 7-187479 and 8-192951 represents a sheet finisher having a function of midway stapling.
A sheet finisher disclosed in Japanese TOKKAIHEI No. 10-148983 is one having a sheet folding means which folds a sheet in two.
(1) A conventional sheet finisher having a sheet folding means has a problem that it requires a large floor space because a sheet conveyance path is arranged to be horizontal in the sheet finisher.
(2) In the sheet finisher, plural sets of paired rollers each set being composed of a driving roller and a driven roller need to be arranged for plural sheet conveyance paths, which results in a problem of complicated driving systems in the sheet finisher.
(3) The structure of plural sheet conveyance paths in the sheet finisher is simplified to improve sheet conveying capability.
In a sheet finisher wherein plural recording sheets and a cover are superposed and are conveyed to a sheet finishing section, the control of automatic mode for superposing a cover sheet on recording sheets ejected out of an image forming apparatus and for finishing and the control of manual mode in which recording sheets representing the contents and a cover sheet representing a cover are superposed in advance, and then finishing is carried out are provided selectively, so that the sheet finisher itself may fulfill the function as a sheet folding machine.
An object of the present invention is to solve the aforesaid problems of the conventional sheet finisher and to provide a compact and inexpensive sheet finisher which can be operated easily.
The object stated above can be attained by either one of the following structures.
Structure 1
A sheet finisher having therein a conveyance means which successively receives and conveys recording sheets each having thereon a formed image conveyed out of an image forming apparatus, a stacking means which positions recording sheets received and stacks them, a cover sheet feeding means which feeds out a cover sheet stacked on a cover sheet loading section with a feed-out means and places it on the stacking means mentioned above, a stapling means which staples the recording sheets and the cover sheet both stacked on the stacking means, and a folding means which folds the recording sheets and the cover sheet wherein the cover sheet is placed, with its first surface facing upward, on the cover sheet loading section, then the cover sheet is conveyed by the cover sheet feed-out means to be sent to the stacking means where the recording sheets conveyed by the conveyance means and the cover sheet are stacked and positioned to be subjected to midway stapling by the stapling means, and the cover sheet and the recording sheets thus subjected to midway stapling are conveyed again to be folded in two, and are ejected onto a sheet delivery tray.
Structure 2
A sheet finisher having therein a conveyance means which successively receives and conveys recording sheets each having thereon a formed image conveyed out of an image forming apparatus, a stacking means which positions recording sheets received and stacks them, a cover sheet feeding means which feeds out a cover sheet stacked on a cover sheet loading section with a feed-out means and places it on the stacking means mentioned above, a stapling means which staples the recording sheets and the cover sheet both stacked on the stacking means, and a folding means which folds the recording sheets and the cover sheet wherein the cover sheet loading section arranged on the uppermost step in the main body of the sheet finisher, the stacking means and the stapling means both arranged under the cover sheet loading section, and the folding means arranged under the stacking means and the stapling means are arranged lengthwise in the vertical direction.
Structure 3
A sheet finisher having therein a conveyance means which successively receives and conveys recording sheets each having thereon a formed image conveyed out of an image forming apparatus, a stacking means which positions recording sheets received and stacks them, a cover sheet feeding means which feeds out a cover sheet stacked on a cover sheet loading section with a feed-out means and places it on the stacking means mentioned above, a stapling means which staples the recording sheets and the cover sheet both stacked on the stacking means, and a folding means which folds the recording sheets and the cover sheet wherein a fixed sheet delivery tray which receives recording sheets conveyed out of the image forming apparatus and stacks them for housing without finishing them is arranged above the cover sheet loading section, a second conveyance path through which the cover sheet fed out of the cover sheet feed-out means is conveyed to the stacking means is arranged to adjoin the first conveyance path through which the recording sheets are conveyed to the fixed sheet delivery tray, and the recording sheets in the first conveyance path and the cover sheet in the second conveyance path are conveyed in the opposite direction each other by a common driving roller.
Structure 4
A sheet finisher having therein a conveyance means which successively receives and conveys recording sheets each having thereon a formed image conveyed out of an image forming apparatus, a stacking means which positions recording sheets received and stacks them, a cover sheet feeding means which feeds a cover sheet stacked on a cover sheet loading section to place it on the stacking means, a stapling means which staples the recording sheets and the cover sheet both stacked on the stacking means, and a folding means which folds the recording sheets and the cover sheet wherein the conveyance path for the cover sheet fed out of the cover sheet loading section is arranged so that it joins at the point which is upstream side of the division point between a path which receives recording sheets conveyed out of the image forming apparatus and conveys them to the stacking means and a conveyance path for ejecting without finishing.
Structure 5
An image forming apparatus equipped with a sheet finisher having therein a conveyance means which successively receives and conveys recording sheets each having thereon a formed image conveyed out of an image forming apparatus, a stacking means which positions recording sheets received and stacks them, a cover sheet feeding means which feeds a cover sheet stacked on a cover sheet loading section to place it on the stacking means, a stapling means which staples the recording sheets and the cover sheet both stacked on the stacking means, and a folding means which folds the recording sheets and the cover sheet wherein there are provided an automatic mode in which the cover sheet fed from the cover sheet loading section is conveyed to be placed on the stacking means, then the recording sheets each having thereon a formed image conveyed out of the image forming apparatus are received successively to be conveyed onto the stacking means by the conveyance means, and after the cover sheet and the recording sheets are superposed on the stacking means, they are finished by the stapling means and/or the folding means so that booklets are made continuously, and a manual mode in which a cover sheet and recording sheets both equivalent to one booklet are stacked on the cover sheet loading section, and the cover sheet and recording sheets are fed out by the cover sheet feed-out means to be stacked on the stacking means and to be finished by the stapling means and/or the folding means so that a booklet is made, and the automatic mode to make booklets is controlled by the operation section on the part of the image forming apparatus, while the manual mode to make a booklet is controlled by the operation section on the part of the sheet finisher.